January 15, 2012 - January 21, 2012 posts

One recession-driven social trend is attracting the attention of church growth experts: Immigration from Mexico and the rest of Latin America—once thought to be nearly bottomless—has dried up to a trickle.

A Pew Hispanic Center analysis of Mexican government data shows the number of Mexicans leaving their country for the United States each year has declined from more than one million in 2006 to 404,000 in 2010—a 60 percent reduction. U.S. Border Patrol arrests in the Southwest have fallen from a peak of 1.6 million in 2000 to about 448,000 in 2010.

Much of the decline comes as U.S. unemployment remains stubbornly high. South of the border, Mexican officials say improved social services have made staying home more attractive.

Couple that with increasingly strict immigration policies in the United States, and Spanish-speaking churches in some states are shutting their doors.

"We are definitely seeing a definitive, measurable decrease in the number of first-generation people," said Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

It's a noteworthy change for churches that have eyed the Hispanic population for years as the greatest source of growth. Armed with data projecting that by 2050, whites will become a minority and Hispanics will jump from 14 percent of the U.S. population to nearly 30 percent, churches have launched English as a Second Language classes and Spanish-language services for immigrants.

So is the slowdown cause to toss aside their bilingual Bibles and cancel the Spanish service?

Not so fast, experts say.

The U.S. Hispanic population is still booming, although births are now the driving force. Pew research shows that as the Mexican-American population grew by 11.2 million in the past decade, births accounted for 63 percent of the growth. In the 1990s, birth and immigration contributed equally to growth. In the 1980s, immigration led.

Experts are mixed on whether the slowdown will last, and whether it will hamper once-fervid church planting and outreach efforts to the Hispanic community.

"What you see now is economic entrenchment," said Arlene Sanchez-Walsh, associate professor of Latino church studies at Azusa Pacific University. "The economy has put a crimp on how you can start a church."

One thing is certain: The trend has prompted some soul-searching.

Gaston Espinosa, associate professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College, said the changing demographics will pressure churches to gear more toward second- and third-generation Hispanics—who virtually all speak English as a primary language.

"Any church that insists on just being Spanish-speaking risks losing young people," said Daniel Sanchez, who teaches church planting at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Second- and third-generation Hispanics are doing what Sanchez calls "selective assimilation"—adopting the language of the United States while retaining Latino cultural values and often a preference for churches that share those values.

This group is often more receptive to evangelicalism than the more staunchly Roman Catholic immigrant generation before them.

And unlike many other ethnic minorities, Latino youth are primed by a Catholic background and characterized by what Espinosa calls "a native spiritual intelligence" and curiosity about God and the next life.

"Some people may view this shift in population as a time to reprioritize outreach to Latinos," he said. "But that would be a mistake. It's an enormous population to overlook."

The other day I ran into colleagues at the soon-to-be National Museum of African American History and Culture. We share offices in the same Smithsonian building and check in occasionally. "So," I say, "When are you going to start taking care of my Dominican peeps; they're African Americans, you know." They looked at me bemusedly. Sensing I had some explaining to do, I rattled off that Dominicans are the largest African- descended U.S. Latino population group, that the reality of 178th Street and Broadway (New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, and the largest Dominican aggregation in this country) is a far cry from that of Altos de Chavón, DR, and that Afro-Dominicans in this country have, in large measure, contextualized their homeland's peculiar view of africanidad--you may be India Canela (Cinnamon Indian) in Santo Domingo, but you are Black here. My underlying plea, given their African American reality, was that we needed some help in exploring these implications as part of our ongoing efforts to serve the Dominican community.

My interest in africanidad, a foundational notion of African miscegenation in the Americas, is nothing new and, no, I was not moved by the UN's designation of 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent--it will take more than a lifetime to fully explore, understand and celebrate all that African-descended peoples have contributed to our shared American (continent, not country) history and culture. It began when, as a child, I quizzed my parents about how they fell in love during the 40's Mambo craze (mambo means "conversation with the gods" in Kikongo, a principal language of Central African slaves taken to Cuba), continued when Francisco Aguabella, famed Afro-Cuban percussionist, joined Carlos Santana's band, and was really driven home with the National Museum of Mexican Art's watershed 2005 exhibition, "The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present." I'm of Mexican heritage, tied to a country with supposedly minimal African legacy--this despite the fact that during Colonial Mexico there were more Africans (slaves, of course) than Europeans. What happened to all of them after independence from Spain and the abolition of slavery? Hmmm...

A recent acquaintance asked me what my greatest work challenge was. I quickly responded--understanding and managing cultural diversity. Not the expected response from a cultural worker of color like myself. The above rumination on africanidad is tied to the iterative exploration of Latino identity, which is African, Christian, Gay, Indigenous, Muslim, European, Jewish, Asian and "other"--some or all in one person, in one family or in one community--all the time. The Latino population continues to grow and to be enriched by this amazing mix. These complex, unexpected and daily confluences and collisions, and the communities and vernacular cultures they yield, are not easy to understand, manage and interpret, but that's our job--the challenge that we at the Smithsonian Latino Center cherish, relish and wrestle with each day. We are blessed to have this opportunity.

Last October, we lost Piri Thomas, one our most eloquent voices. Born to a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father, Thomas knew New York's Spanish Harlem well and, in his volume, Down These Mean Streets, one gets a glimpse of his life's challenges, which, while special, are also communally held by many in our community. From him we also derive inspiration to move forward with our important shared or individual enterprise. From his poem, "Born Anew at Each A.M.":

The streets got life, man,like a young tender sun,and gentleness likelong awaited dreams to come.For children are roses with nary a thorn,forced to feel the racist's scorn,Our children are beautywith the right to be born.Born anew at each a.m.Like a child out of twilight,flying toward sunlight,Born anew at each a.m.

Last month, Latino daily deal site Descuento Libre acquired Mi Cupon Del Dia, a Miami based competitor, just a couple months after acquiring Los Angeles based deal site Groupacho. Since Descuento Libre's test market launch in Austin, Chicago, and Mexico City in March 2011, the lean high-growth startup has been optimizing strategies and developing partnerships to best serve Hispanic consumers in both the U.S. and Mexico with relevant deals, content, mediums and marketing messages -- in English and Spanish. As of January 2012, Descuento Libre officially launched in over 70 additional markets in the U.S. and Mexico. The acquisition of Mi Cupon Del Dia enabled Descuento Libre to quickly expand its offerings to Miami's large Latino market."Acquiring Mi Cupon Del Dia allowed Descuento Libre to tap into the Hispanic community in Miami without reinventing the wheel. The Hispanic deal site is a new concept in the e-commerce market, so collaborations are key to standing out amongst the hundreds of mass-market deal sites that have sprouted since Groupon launched nearly three years ago," said Boris Portman, CEO and Founder of Descuento Libre. U.S. Hispanics are a fast-growing, complex, and still underserved demographic, with a broad range of cultural roots, ages, interests, and acculturation, so Descuento Libre combines an interesting mix of traditional media and online marketing to reach this audience. In addition to strategic partnerships that allow expansion into new markets, the deal site has also established media partnerships -- including alliances with bloggers in the LasBlogueras.com network -- to create brand awareness among Hispanics. In Chicago, Descuento Libre works with ViveloHoy.com of the Chicago Tribune Newspaper to advertise deals locally through print and web. In Austin, Descuento Libre partnered with national radio celebrity, El Chulo de la Manana, on Fiesta Mexicana 97.1 FM to publicize its brand and educate Hispanic consumers about using deal sites to save money. Nationally, Descuento Libre will continue to work with Latino-focused websites, and in the next several months will be announcing additional key partnerships, including affiliations with nonprofit organizations. Descuento Libre recently partnered with inova.com.mx, the leader in informational sales in Mexico. In addition to providing Descuento Libre with a rich variety of deals, the partnership also enhances its marketing reach. As Descuento Libre continues to develop its national presence in the U.S. and Mexico, it will offer a mix of local Hispanic-flavor deals and deals with mass-market appeal. In addition, it has launched the multiple deal feature, as well as online coupons for daily consumer goods such as groceries, so customers have more deal variety on any given day. Descuento Libre is also developing and testing SMS and rich mobile features that will be rolled out during Q1 2012. Hispanics, in many ways, behave similarly to the mass market -- the key is in communicating with them both via appropriate language and cultural messaging.

The Latino community is finding itself in a quandary about how to reconcile a tremendously diverse collection of immigrants and multigenerational U.S.-born citizens who can fall anywhere on the socioeconomic map from dirt poor to super rich.

As if that weren’t enough, three things have Latinos in even more of a tizzy these days: how they describe themselves to the U.S. Census Bureau, Mitt Romney’s rise in the race to become the GOP presidential nominee, and a spate of Latino-centric media offerings.

Last week, a University of Southern California study found that 6 percent of respondents who reported Spanish or Latin American ancestry in a 2006 survey conducted by the U.S. Census answered “no” when asked if they identified themselves as Spanish, Hispanic or Latino.

The headlines that the news garnered, and the responses elicited from readers, ran from the sober notion that this is yet another sign of “ethnic attrition” or assimilation—aka, getting absorbed in the melting pot—to the fear that millions of Latinos are committing the unforgivable sin of “denying their own heritage.”

Such responses perfectly delineate the divide between those who want Hispanics to become nothing more or less than a normal part of mainstream America and those who want to ensure that the Latino community remains a distinct segment when it comes to population counts—whether for the purpose of honoring their unique culture or to curry political favor or power. As it stands, Hispanics are folded into the three established racial groups: white, black, Asian.

In this context, it’s no surprise that Latino voters, usually considered a reliably Democratic base, recoiled in horror to learn that Mitt Romney has Mexican ancestry and could become—gasp!—the nation’s first Hispanic president.

Yes, Romney can make a claim to America’s not-quite-sure-what-to-make-of-itself Latino community because his father was born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. At the end of the 19th century, the Romney family immigrated to Mexico in order to flee U.S. laws against polygamy, and it still has a presence there.

The collective Hispanic response to Romney’s connection to the Aztec Empire has ranged from “But he’s white!” to the ever-insulting “Yeah, right—who ever heard of a Mexican Republican?”—an accurate reflection of the disconnect in Hispanics’ view of the difference between race and ethnicity, and a clear exhibition of the idea that though Latinos might hail from any of 20 separate countries and be distinct in a million different ways, no “real” Hispanic would be a—double-gasp!—Republican.

MexicanMitt, decked out in mariachi attire—and what he verified to me through Twitter are authentic, ultra-pointy cowboy boots—is hilarious. Cursing in broken Spanglish, bidding a ribald “adios” to Jon “Juanito” Huntsman, proudly declaring himself one of the rich “Juan percent,” and generally exploiting every Mexican convention you can think of, MexicanMitt has injected some fun into Republican poll speculating.

At least his followers and admirers are laughing at this stereotype-spewing lampoon. That’s opposite to the way many Latinos have reacted to big-media attempts to engage them. There’s been no backlash against MexicanMitt, so far, but to scan the disappointing offering of movies and TV in the past year is to find that the performing arts either ignore Hispanics or inadvertently insult them.

In the past months there has been frustration over how Colombia was depicted in the action-thriller “Colombiana” about that region’s drug cartel violence, the lack of Latinos celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors, and a TV sitcom portrayal of Puerto Ricans as natural-born drug dealers.

“Rob,” a television show that debuted last week about a Caucasian goofball who marries into a Mexican family, made waves for both using reliable “close-knit Hispanic family” stereotypes to delight viewers and for getting Hispanics to question whether they should love or hate shows like this or “Modern Family,” with its stereotypical sexy Latina mom.

Truthfully, no lines in the sand need to be drawn—we can agree to disagree about our varied individual preferences and what they “mean.” Latinos are diverse and complex, and we must accept this of our own community before we can expect others to do the same.

Once again, television networks are attempting to integrate Latinos into their prime time television lineup; and once again they are failing miserably.

Instead of incorporating Latinos into the story line in a legitimate manner, the attempts so far this season are more of the same tried and failed programs that are full of casting and plot stereotypes that may be funny to some, but are offensive to many.

The first one to go on and off the air this year was ABC's show "Work It," in which Amaury Nolasco, weighing his employment opportunities, said: "I'm Puerto Rican. I'm really good at selling drugs."

The controversial show lasted two episodes before it was mercifully cancelled. TVGuide.com said the show attracted only 4.9 million viewers for its second show, down from 6.16 million for its season's premiere. Not said, but probably true, too, is that Puerto Rican activists demanded the network and the show producers to apologize for the offensive stereotype.

"Work It" became a damaged brand as was quickly taken off the air.

Last week, it was CBS that tried its hand at bridging the culture gap with Latinos on English language television. Its new show "Rob" was described by About.com — TV Comedies as "yet another lazy obvious CBS sitcom, an outdated culture-clash premise and one-dimensional characters."

In the show, the lead character played by Rob Schneider marries a much younger Mexican woman, named Maggie, played by Claudia Bassols, and encounters Maggie's very large extended family. That is the first of many stereotypes. Jokes about guacamole follow as do comments about what Hispanics, in this case Mexicans, do while they are having a siesta. Maggie's family is the a stereotypical Latino family and Rob's insensitive comments about Mexicans are supposed to be funny.

What Josh Bell, a comedy reviewer for the Las Vegas Weekly, posted in About.com – TV Comedies could not have been more on the mark. He said: "It's heartening to see a network sitcom with an almost entirely Latino cast, and this show is in a unique position to explore a perspective that is rarely seen on network TV (and hasn't fueled a sitcom since George López was canceled). Unfortunately, it squanders that opportunity in favor of obvious, stereotypical jokes and tired retreads of themes from other shows."

It's a pity. But mainstream television networks insist on portraying Latinos in stereotypical fashion. Recently a police detective show on one of the networks had a throw-away line about the dangers of the Cuban mafia.

Of course, there are exceptions. Sofia Vergara, the Colombian star, is marvelous in the show "Desperate Housewives." These successes, however, are few and far between. For the most part, TV studios don't seem to know what to do with Latinos.

Why can't Hollywood find its groove with Latinos? I remember "The Jeffersons" with George Jefferson playing a funny rich owner of several dry cleaners, and his family. The show was funny, real funny, as was the Bill Cosby show.

Three decades ago, PBS in South Florida did a series of episodes of the hopes and fears of three generations of Cubans adapting to life in America. The show was sensational and, in fact, it still is in re-runs in many stations throughout the country.

The difference between that show and the recent attempts at incorporating Latinos into the prime-time television scene is that "¿Que Pasa USA?" was the trials and tribulations of a family adapting to file in a new country. It was bi-lingual and truly funny. It showed how grandparents born in Cuba and spoke only Spanish, tried and failed to understand the life of the two grandchildren, who spoke English predominantly and couldn't understand the restrictions their grandparents and parents tried to impose on them.

It was a comedy about the successes and challenges of a Latino family fitting into this country — something that has happened to many families. It was funny to watch, not because the show made fun of them, but because the situations they put themselves in were funny in any language and in any community.

Rob Schneider is in real-life married to a Mexican woman with a large extended family. One can only wonder why his presumably real life experiences couldn't be translated into a television show that went beyond the shallow stereotypes.

Manny and Vicky Gonzalez are reminded each day that it isn’t only Spanish speaking people who stop to purchase Mexican (“tortas”) sandwiches at their two restaurants in Minneapolis.

“A lot of Minnesotans have learned that there is more to Mexican food than tacos,” said Manny, who with his wife started Manny’s Tortas along Lake Street in 1999.

In the past century, long-time Minnesota families learned there was more to Italian cuisine than pizza, and that Chinese food is regional and far more complex than chow mein. Now, Minnesotans with newly acquired tastes for the Gonzalez’s Mexican sandwiches drive from throughout the Twin Cities metro area to their two shops in Minneapolis’ Mercado Central and Midtown Global Market.

U.S. Census data from 2010, anecdotal evidence about immigrant entrepreneurship, and a recently released study from the Immigration Policy Center show Minnesota is rapidly changing. Days of sputtering along and resisting change should be behind us. New Minnesotans are changing the demographic portrait of the state and communities. New ethnic entrepreneurs are changing the mix of businesses and the products and services being offered in commerce.

Hector Garcia, executive director of the Chicano Latino Affairs Council (CLAC), refers to the benefits of this commerce as “cultural complementarities.” The long established Minnesota society learns from immigrants and refugees entering the state in search of opportunities, he said, and new arrivals learn from established businesses, groups and people.

What’s more, new Census data show that immigrants now comprise 8.3 percent of the Minnesota workforce. From them, Garcia said, existing Minnesota businesses and its large corporations gain knowledge for opening even more trade and business relationships with countries and businesses abroad, paving the way for even more economic activity.

The never-ending task for CLAC and other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and community leaders is to educate people to see new arrivals to the state and to business activity as “assets,” and not “liabilities” that need services, he said.

This year, 2012, is the next scheduled survey of business owners in America by the U.S. Census Bureau. Its findings should reveal explosive growth by ethnic entrepreneurs since the last survey in 2007.

Data on this growth is mostly anecdotal but was examined in a Minnesota 2020 November report. It showed the Hispanic/Latino community is reviving business activity in Willmar, Worthington and various other rural Minnesota communities, as are ethnic entrepreneurs throughout neighborhoods in the Twin Cities metro area.

Tom Webb, writing in Sunday's Pioneer Press, observed that the combined Hmong Village and Hmongtown Markeplace in St. Paul have more merchants and service providers on site than the Mall of America, for instance. Garcia said the 2012 survey of business owners should provide similar information for Hispanic/Latino owners. The 2007 survey showed Latino-owned businesses had $1.6 billion in revenue and employed 5,970 people. Both figures are expected to swell in the coming study.

From anecdotal evidence, business startups from the ethnic communities are believed to be young and within the five-year range from the last business owner survey. That makes Manny’s Tortas, now entering its 13th year, a long established enterprise both by restaurant standards and by ethnic ownership experience.

That baker’s dozen of years experience in Minneapolis gives Manny Gonzalez a perspective on how economic activity builds and how markets change. When the Gonzalez family first opened shop in Mercado Central (1515 East Lake Street), most of the customers were fellow Hispanics, he said. Now, the customer base is “a good mix of everyone who wants a good, different sandwich.”

This mix of customers spills over on Minnesota and Minneapolis economies. Manny and Vicky Gonzalez now employ 12 people.

Much of the Immigration Policy Center report for Minnesota is gathered from earlier government and academic studies referenced here before. New findings, however, include:

The 2010 purchasing power of the Latino community in Minnesota was pegged at $5.1 billion, a 909.5 percent increase since 1990, according to research by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. The Asian community in Minnesota had purchasing power of $5.9 billion in 2010. Roughly one in 11 Minnesotans are Latino or Asian, the IPC center said. The Latino share of Minnesota’s population grew from 1.2 percent in 1990, to 2.9 percent in 2000, to 4.7 percent (249,587 people) in the 2010 Census. The Asian share of the population grew from 1.8 percent in 1990, to 2.9 percent in 2000, to 4.0 percent (212,423 people) in 2010. The IPC findings show the future for Minnesota is even brighter. It cited 2009 data where 86.3 percent of immigrant children in Minnesota are U.S. citizens, including 90.3 percent of Latino families’ children. And it showed 79.1 percent of all immigrant children were “English proficient” that year, including 84.8 percent of Latino children.

That strengthens Garcia’s argument that our new Minnesotans are assets, not liabilities. In basic business terminology, we must assure that our education system and our other institutions do not waste our assets.

Republican political lore has it that Latinos are natural GOP voters. Family-oriented and deeply religious in many cases, Latinos would seem to be a natural segment of the electorate to connect with the Republican social conservative ethos that dominates today's GOP.

But voting patterns have shown a different reality – so far, American Latinos have tended, election after election, to prefer Democratic candidates by wide margins. In the last presidential election cycle, for example, Barack Obama captured 67% of the Latino vote to John McCain's 31%. In key swing states such as Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, Latinos provided Obama's margin of victory.

It is clear, as we head into November's national election, that it will be very difficult for either the eventual GOP nominee or the president to win the election without a strong showing among this growing group of voters. Candidates are eagerly reaching out to Latino voters in South Carolina and Florida with Spanish-language ads and targeted events.

Yet, when I speak with Republican strategists, smart people with records of success in electing candidates, I am struck by how little they seem to know about American Latinos.

I hear the same theory over and over – American Latinos are like everybody else, interested primarily in economic issues and education. And there is truth to this. But then again, who isn't focused on economic issues? Or which group of Americans thinks that the crisis in our public education system is irrelevant?

Perhaps not as evident to these strategists is the enormous cost to the Republican Party of the avalanche of anti-immigrant rhetoric and legislation that has erupted across the country since Obama's election. The infamous Arizona anti-immigrant law, which can only be effectively enforced through racial profiling, stands as a powerful symbol of intolerance.

The copycat laws sponsored by GOP legislators that have sprung up in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina reinforce the idea that the Republican Party is the political umbrella for deeply offensive legislation that denigrates the dignity of Americans of Latino descent, even as the laws' authors claim that such legislation is focused on “illegals” - itself a term that is deeply offensive to many Latinos.

The several GOP debates in which the candidates competed to outdo each other as to who would build the tallest, most deadly border fence were a stark reminder of American political reality: You cannot win the Republican nomination for president unless you are a hard-liner on immigration.

Never mind that President George W. Bush bet the Crawford ranch on comprehensive immigration reform in 2006. At the time, Bush said "there needs to be a comprehensive bill in order for us to achieve the objective...And the objective is, on the one hand, protect our borders, and, on the other hand, never lose sight of the thing that makes America unique, which is we're a land of immigrants and that we're not going to discriminate against people."

And forget that Republican uber-icon Ronald Reagan found the idea of a border fence as antithetical to American values. As Reagan said in his farewell address, "I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here."

Evangelicals, with Latino evangelicals among them, recently settled on Rick Santorum as a candidate, but the decision wasn’t as simple as showing up and repeating dog-whistle bromides about God and family. As National Journal recently reported: “Evangelical Hispanics, in particular, are looking for Republicans whom they feel comfortable supporting ... Religious conservatives say they wish more Republicans would adopt a moderate tone on immigration in the vein of [George W.] Bush. They also aren’t shy about supporting Obama’s immigration efforts.”

Can Republicans appeal to more Latinos than they've been able to attract in past elections? Of course.

But the Republican Party needs to connect the dots. Newt Gingrich, who said he makes a distinction between American families with some members who are undocumented and people with no ties to our society, just picked up the endorsement of the nation's largest Hispanic Republican group, Somos Republicans. Immigration policy is as important to the Latino community as social issues are to evangelicals. As the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, said, the Arizona style anti-immigrant laws “are not just or moral laws, they make no sense and they don't benefit either the nation or families.”

It is time for Republicans to truly stand up for Ronald Reagan's values and end the poisonous anti-immigrant rhetoric. Not only could they then win more Latino votes, they may even bring our divided country together.

“Low success rates at community colleges” is the title of a recent article in the Houston Chronicle (Nov. 23) about the low success rate of Lone Star College, resulting in $3.8 million taxpayer annual losses.

Information is reported by Mark Schneider of the American Institutes for Research. This is an organization that was commissioned by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The fact is there are too few students that begin and that ultimately earn a degree or transfer to four-year college. Only about 12 percent of all college students earn a degree within a three-year period and 30 percent graduate after six years. This means dropout/attrition rates of 88 percent at a three-year period and 70 percent at a six-year period, and certainly an indicator of college efficiency of the overall population. LSC officials will not provide data that relates to the Hispanic race.

RACIAL DISPARITY

The Hispanic enrollment varies from campuses that have up to 50 percent enrollment at North Harris with less than 5 percent of bilingual faculty. Similar comparisons can be made at the Kingwood campus with a 25 percent enrollment rate and a 3.3 percent bilingual faculty.

The Lone Star College System has grown to include 85,000 students. In conclusion, Lone Star College does not want or seek help developing a diversity program that will begin to improve this racial disparity. Not only is the major concern to taxpayers losing $3.8 million a year, but a disservice to each of the communities for which the colleges were established.

According to published information, the No. 1 priority at the college is “student achievement.” Clearly the Hispanic community or the overall community is not getting value received in this regard, referring to the aforementioned article. It seems that the college does not care to engage in discussions with community organizations that can help with recruiting and attracting candidates worthy of consideration.

HESI HISTORY WITH LSC

After a four-year relationship with Lone Star College, I have had an opportunity to evaluate some of the reasons why there is a very low success rate with young Hispanic/Latino students. I learned of a serious faculty disparity and began bringing it to their attention with no response or interest.

Recent audits for the last two years of 2010-12 reflect a huge racial disparity of bilingual faculty who speak the language or understand the culture, which attribute to low “student achievement” among Hispanic students. Lone Star College promotes the college system as having 90,000 students with a Hispanic student enrollment of more than 25 percent, or 22,250, Latinos with only 5 percent, or 43, Hispanic/bilingual faculty employed by the college.

These numbers calculate into 523 Hispanic students for each bilingual teacher.

CEASE AND DESIST

Hispanic Executive Society International was banned from entering any of the campuses and was threatened with legal action if any information was published about the college’s diversity program.

As of this date, HESI does not have any kind of relationship with Lone Star College. HESI is seeking to clear its name as a result of allegations and investigate the matter and the actual reasons for doing so. After several attempts to discuss this matter, Lone Star has not expressed interest in any kind of due diligence to verify any of the presumed facts.

RESPONSES FROM LSC

When asked for a copy of its recruiting history and plans for the future, there was no further comment or follow-up. The cavalier attitude toward diversity clearly indicates that it is not a priority.

No doubt there is a racial disparity of faculty at Lone Star College and changes need to be made quickly to reduce the dropout rates and waste of taxpayer monies.

Anyone that has information or seeks to render an opinion on this article is encouraged to contact the Hispanic Executive Society founder at joeramirez@hispanicexecutivesociety.org or through the website www.hispanicexecutivesociety.org.

JANUARY 16 — In recent years, many people have turned to individual agencies, housing counselors and various lenders to avoid foreclosing on their homes. Unfortunately, many families found themselves paying scammers who took their money and failed to protect them.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Any person at risk of losing his or her home due to foreclosure can receive free counseling from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) nationwide network of approved counseling agencies.

Available Services

HUD’s nationwide network of approved counseling agencies can help families who are trying to avoid foreclosure. Although each agency offers specific services, in general you can receive the following types of help:• General counseling in matters related to housing• An evaluation of your specific housing situation• Counseling on ways to avoid foreclosing on your home• Help with refinancing through HUD’s various programs or with lender negotiations

HUD-approved agencies cannot charge for their foreclosure counseling services. However, they can charge a reasonable fee for other services, such as general housing education, pre and post-sale counseling, and other services.

Preparing for Your First Meeting

You don’t need to wait to be in foreclosure to seek counseling. If you think you may run into problems paying your mortgage, it is better to seek foreclosure counseling sooner, rather than later. Having the following financial information ready will make your first meeting with a counseling agency more productive:• Household monthly income and expenses• Current monthly mortgage payment amount• Latest mortgage account statement• Any relevant communication with your lender regarding late mortgage payments

It is also a good idea to have a sense of what you want to accomplish with the help of the approved counseling agency – keeping your home, selling it, refinancing, etc.Working with a Non-Approved Agency

If you choose to work with a non-approved agency, consider taking certain steps to avoid falling victim to scams:• Avoid paying for foreclosure counseling services. HUD-approved agencies provide these services at no cost.• Resist any tactics that pressure you into signing documents without enough time to go over them carefully.• Do not sign over the deed of your house to any other person or organization.• Make your mortgage payments only to your lender or an institution approved by your lender.

USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov are the U.S. Government’s official web portals in English and Spanish, and part of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

Motivated by her personal experience parenting identical twin girls, Clavijo-Kish initially founded Los Tweens to fill a void she discovered — culturally relevant parenting advice focused on the developmentally important “Tween” years (age 7-12). The owner/publishing team includes Katherine Doble-Cannata, a non-profit and immigration communications pro, and Adrian Acosta, a technology manager. Together they have created an environment that encourages parents to hone their parenting skills by sharing the joys, tips, questions and headaches of raising children during these key years, while fostering opportunities for parents and tweens to interact online in a safe environment.

“My daughter inspired me with an essay test answer that specifically called out the importance of understanding other cultures,” recalls Clavijo-Kish. “As a Latina mom I always strive to retain our cultural roots while raising confident, proud, patriotic kids in the US. I became aware that if I didn’t focus on schoolwork, friends, community service, discipline, spirituality AND culture now, I will have missed my opportunity. The teen years certainly will not be the place to start emphasizing its importance. Thus Los Tweens was born,” she adds.

In addition to featuring content from parents, upcoming plans for the bilingual family community blog include:

Expert content – Contributions from pediatricians, mental health experts, counselors, teachers, chefs, fitness coaches and other experts, like this post by Dr. Lydia Kalsner-Silver, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children and families, discussing the warning signs of bullying in the tween years. TweenversationsTM – Hosted online chats with parents and kids that directly relate to their current issues and situations. Officially launching MyLosTweens.com where kids will be able to share ideas, photos, book reviews and more content alongside their parents. Local live events, including support for initiatives that provide opportunities for pre-teens to volunteer and pay-it-forward. Additional content partnerships that link specialized posts like Building a Tween’s Cuisine from Latino Foodie and news/data from non-profit organizations helping parents and kids develop skills and services.

A full Editorial calendar is ready to go with posts ranging from developmental changes in the Tween years to driving volunteerism and reviewing age-appropriate books, music, movies and more. Readers soon will start to see more diverse content as posts are originally created in Spanish and other languages, or translated. Important issues as immigration and education readiness that impact preteens in Latino and recently arrived immigrant families also will be a focus and special series. While the term “los” drives a fun, Latino flavor- the site openly welcomes contributions from varying cultures and will soon feature posts from Japanese, Haitian and parents of varying cultural backgrounds and beliefs.

“The idea is that we share our American culture as we’re raising children in the United States but are adding cultural heritage, communication skills, education and tackling issues together now, to broaden a child’s global view later,” said co-publisher Doble-Cannata.

For more details, contact Cristy, Katherine or Adrian via info@lostweens.com.